Endorsements

“Whoop Dee Doo for me is a kind of explosion of possibilities. The things that I’ve seen happen in the space of one Whoop Dee Doo episode are so dynamic and unexpected – huge cultural anomalies. I think as a viewer and as a participant it completely appends your set of expectations about what’s possible in terms of contemporary culture, and it does that in a totally generous and non-judgmental way that really gives ownership to the participants. I think Whoop Dee Doo makes an impact immediately – as soon as you watch an episode, as soon as you participate in the filming. I think that impact is something that is not unique to one age group or demographic but is something that really spans a huge swath of people, many of whom maybe have had no interaction with or experience in a contemporary art facility in the past, so it’s a pretty golden impact. It’s a totally unique and brilliant collaboration of artists.”

Hesse McGraw, Curator, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, NE

“Whoop Dee Doo teaches children so much about themselves – and other people. In workshops and live performances, Whoop Dee Doo refuses to talk down to kids. They are treated as collaborators whose ideas are just as important as the adult professional artists working alongside them. Whoop Dee Doo allows children to bust out of their comfort zones and surprise themselves with their own creativity. Kids feel accepted there, so they are more accepting of others, more respectful of people or things that are different. I’ve seen Whoop Dee Doo work this magic on a broad spectrum of children – advantaged, disadvantaged – and the effect is virtually the same – increased courage to connect and to create.”

“Whoop Dee Doo was beautifully aligned with Caldera’s mission to inspire kids through the arts, through creativity, and through pure, unadulterated fun. The smiles on our kids’ faces and the confidence and enthusiasm they showed for learning, performing, filming, and dreaming up great ideas for the Whoop Dee Doo show — it was a profound and joyful experience.”

Tricia Snell, Executive Director, Caldera, Sisters, OR

“Whoop Dee Doo is a high energy amalgam of performance art, variety showcase, and Absurdist Theater. The series is wide ranging and ever-inclusive, a truly democratic program that does not sink to the lowest common denominator. It is smart without being dull, hilarious but never schlocky. There is nothing else like it.”

“Performed in front of a live audience, [Whoop Dee Doo] is a manic blend of performance art, raver weirdness and kids show that would leave Paul Reubens squirming with discomfort in the theater.”

Marisa Meltzer, Nylon Magazine, New York, NY

“Seeing Whoop Dee Doo for the first time was a revelation. It was refreshing, positive, diverse, democratic, and had a sense of communal, DIY-ness that is increasingly rare.”

Lumi Tan, Assistant Curator, The Kitchen, New York, NY

“I totally love these guys. I learned how to make people feel very comfortable. I learned how to sew. I learned how to become better at everything I do. I wish I could totally move on through life with these guys. What means the most to me is that they made me feel right at home. They made me feel just like family. I want to be a part of their group when I am older.”

Mykeesia, age 16, Cincinnati, OH

“As a Youth Development Specialist, I saw the learning experience these girls took part in was one not at all available in a traditional classroom or session. I watched girls open themselves up to strangers unlike I had ever seen them do before. Whoop Dee Doo was led by a team of compassionate humans who were extremely thoughtful to their individual feelings and wishes, with a great sensitivity to their learning process. The girls came out of their shells and expressed themselves in a whole new way- with so much more depth and meaning to what they were creating, seeing real value in their artistic ideas.”

Miss Candace, Urgent, Inc. Rites of Passage Instructor, Miami, FL

“Whoop Dee Doo threw the best holiday party in Deitch Projects history. They are probably the only project we’ve hosted who did everything completely themselves; built sets, created costumes, rallied performers, videotaped, choreographed and MC’d a four-hour performance extravaganza. It was the funnest, friendliest and wackiest art jamboree we have ever hosted.”

Kathy Grayson, Gallery Director, Deitch Projects, New York, NY

“Whoop Dee Doo creates a radically safe space for creativity and joy – a site where children and adults can mutually inspire each other to make art and affirm life. The unflappable inclusiveness of these Day-Glo-DIY performances is both rousing and profound. I can’t wait for the next Whoop Dee Doo in New York City.”

“One of the things that I really love about Whoop Dee Doo is its unpretentious embrace of awkwardness and eccentricity in all of its forms, and a resistance or a counterpoint to slick perfection, and instead, a real embrace of individuality. Inside Whoop Dee Doo’s grungy, populist, magical cardboard arena, these radically variant performers and audiences comprised a temporary community, united in a shared exuberance for any and all unencumbered expressions of vulnerability, individuality, awkwardness, aspiration, and fun.”

“This was the first time I have ever seen myself as a real artist and someone who could see why it’s important that I’m making art”

“I feel like my character for real life is too much and I was able to bring the real me out through my character that I made, and that meant a lot to me, to be able to do that.”

Urgent, Inc. students Shakia and Janice, Miami, FL

“Bringing Whoop Dee Doo’s fantastic show to Malmo was one of the highlights in the gallery’s history. Whoop Dee Doo is an active force. They immediately connected themselves to the fabric of the city, achieving accessibility while maintaining the integrity of the show. Whoop Dee Doo completely transcended the language and cultural barriers, activating and captivating people of all ages and cultures. There was an incredible flow of ideas coming out of this group from Kansas City. It was an honor to be a part of making this happen.”

Amy Giunta and Martin Lilja, Directors, LOYAL Gallery, Malmo, Sweden

“Whoop Dee Doo is composed of a brilliant group of young artists who are fundamentally generous and socially conscious both individually and as a collective. The outrageous and wild is complemented with an unwavering commitment to professionalism and sensitivity. Whoop Dee Doo has the corner on fun–not a little, but a whole lot.”

“Part theatrical production and part immersive diorama of the absurd, WDD interweaves the hilarious, heteromorphic, and hallucinogenic, into a fantasyland of sorts. A fully immersive underwater-like world, the installation and performance presented a simulated experience into their strange and captivating microcosm.”

“It takes guts. It is a curator’s job to say yes to artists, even when their hopeful projects intent is to get messy and transgressive, especially when those artists are Whoop Dee Doo. In the summer of 2011, Whoop De Doo landed in Portland with an undulating cast of characters, which included founding artists Jaimie Warren and Matt Roche. Over the course of several months, the artists and their hundreds of collaborators developed a project for PICA’s annual Time-Based Art Festival which turned an empty library in an old abandoned high school into a living, breathing, oozing, immersive installation about the human body. Blood, guts and bile, Butoh dancers, bell choirs, cardboard organs, belly button caves, multi-media brain trusts and a virtual carnival of curiosities set the stage for an all out frenzy of audience / artist interaction. Their live performances destabilized kids and adults alike caused a mini – revolution of ecstatic bodies that were at once thrilled and challenged by art. Whoop De Doo made us feel alive, and I say yes to that! Yes! Yes! Yes!”

“When I was invited to be the Visual Arts Adjudicator for the one-night art festival Luminaria in San Antonio, which drew crowds upwards of 100,000 in one night last year, I knew I had to go for super high-energy presentations. But I never imagined that Whoop Dee Doo would blow the opportunity out of the water by turning an unused glass-front office space in the basement of Hemisfair Park’s Women’s Pavilion into a million megawatt microwave! Made out of little more than cardboard, tape, paint, and zoob tubes, there was no mistaking the precision with which this vision was realized, or the fun and hilarious perversity that [Whoop Dee Doo] brought to the project. When the counter finally read 0:00 and the bells and meows sounded, the apparition that rose from the steaming, burning mess of a can to clean its whiskers and smooth its fur in a balletic reverie was nothing short of astounding! This is what you get with Whoop Dee Doo!”